Synopsis

This course serves as an introduction to narrative film history, aesthetics and language with a strong emphasis on cinema as an art form. Understanding the historical, technical, and cultural significance of film language is incredibly important to emerging filmmakers as a way of communicating their message to a visual audience. Students will therefore engage in screenings, discussions and reviews aimed at exploring, investigating and understanding the grammar of the visual language in contemporary, genre and auteur films. Topics and theoretical perspectives may include (but are not limited to) film concepts, techniques and skills such as plot, story, mise-en-scène, sound, editing, cinematography, auteur and genre.